Document management techniques to account for user-specific patterns in document metadata

ABSTRACT

Document management techniques to account for user-specific patterns in document metadata are disclosed. In one embodiment, a method for facilitating document retrieval may comprise: assigning a first entitlement to a first user for accessing a first plurality of documents; identifying patterns in the first user&#39;s creation or modification of metadata related to the first plurality of documents; recording the identified patterns associated with the first user; receiving a document query from a second user who has been assigned a second entitlement to access a second plurality of documents; determining, based on the second entitlement, an access right of the second user with respect to the first plurality of documents; and modifying the document query based on the access right of the second user and the identified patterns, such that the document query returns relevant documents from the first plurality of documents despite the second user&#39;s ignorance of the identified patterns.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

The present application is a continuation of U.S. patent applicationSer. No. 14/553,376, filed Nov. 25, 2014, which is a continuation ofU.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/611,573, filed Sep. 12, 2012, nowU.S. Pat. No. 8,924,414, which is a divisional of U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 12/796,752, filed Jun. 9, 2010, now U.S. Pat. No.8,290,938, which is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.11/872,874, filed Oct. 16, 2007, now U.S. Pat. No. 7,761,471, allentitled “Document Management Techniques To Account For User-SpecificPatterns In Document Metadata” and all of which are incorporated hereinby reference in their entireties.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates generally to electronic documentmanagement. More particularly, the present invention relates to documentmanagement techniques to account for user-specific patterns in documentmetadata.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Modern document management systems employ computers and storage devicesto store and track electronic documents, images of paper documents, andother types of digital content. Typical functions of electronic documentmanagement (EDM) involve the creation, storage, organization,transmission, retrieval, manipulation, update, and eventual dispositionof documents to fulfill an organizational purpose. A successfullyimplemented document management system (DMS) can improve communicationamong people and groups of people, which is especially valuable to largeenterprises where a huge amount of information is documented and sharedamong a number of internal and/or external users on a continuing basis.

Many aspects of document management (e.g., organization and retrieval)rely on document metadata which are descriptive or informational dataconcerning various aspects of underlying documents. With respect to eachdocument, a corresponding set of metadata usually provides informationabout the document itself, its change or versioning history, relatedusers, storage location, access or distribution restrictions, and anyother information that might facilitate the understanding, use, ormanagement of the document. One of the most common uses of documentmetadata is to facilitate document retrieval. For example, a singledocument may be directly retrieved from a DMS if a user provides aunique identifier of the document such as a document number. A list ofdocuments may be retrieved by running a structured query language (SQL)search, which typically identifies relevant documents whose metadatamatch the specified search criteria.

While a typical DMS can automatically generate some metadata for adocument (e.g., detect its application type and assign a documentnumber), a significant portion of the metadata is created by a humanuser who creates the document and/or other users who have entitlement toaccess the document. For example, when creating a new document in a DMS,a user (e.g., author or typist) may be prompted to enter informationregarding the document, thereby establishing an initial set of metadatafor that document. Other users who are authorized to make changes tothat document may subsequently update it or create newer version(s)thereof, thereby changing the metadata of that document.

FIG. 1 shows a typical “New Document Profile” form that a DMS user maybe required to fill in when creating a new document. The “New DocumentProfile” form may include a number of metadata fields which may bepopulated with text entries, pop-out menus, or pull-down menus. Asshown, the metadata fields cover several aspects of documentinformation, such as basic document identification (e.g., DocumentTitle, Client/Subject, and Matter/Transaction), creator information(e.g., Author ID, Typist ID, and Dept./Team), storage and retention(e.g., Database Location and Length of Retention), security and accesscontrol (e.g., Sharing and Security Level). A similar form associatedwith an existing document, such as a “Document Profile” or “DocumentProperties” form, may be displayed to an authorized user to make changesto one or more properties of the document.

The above-described human involvements in the creation or modificationof document metadata can cause problems for subsequent documentretrieval. For various reasons, each individual user of a DMS may havehis or her own personal preferences or habits in describing documents.That is, with respect to a same document, one user may choose a set ofmetadata (e.g., text strings and menu items) to describe that documentwhich are substantially different from another user's choice ofmetadata. For example, one user may be in the habit of using a set ofaliases and/or acronyms in document title fields that are unknown ormake no sense to another user. Even when two users happen to choose thesame text string or menu item in a metadata field, the text string ormenu item may have quite different meanings for the two users. Take, forexample, a document related to credit account collections, which shouldhave been categorized under the subject matter of “Account Recovery.”However, a first user may categorize that document under “Credit Risks”because this user considers almost all credit card matters asappropriately related to credit risks. Yet, a second user may categorizethat same document under “Delinquencies” because collections logicallyfollow delinquencies. A third user may even categorize the creditaccount collections document under “Customer Relations” for goodreasons.

In many instances, the differences in choosing or entering documentmetadata arise from human laziness. For example, in order to avoidpopulating several metadata fields every time a new document is created,a tardy user may keep choosing substantially the same set of metadata todescribe different documents, varying the metadata only slightly (e.g.,in the title field). Over time, this kind of practice will generate alarge number of documents with essentially the same combination ofmetadata, making it difficult for a traditional SQL query to distinguishone document from another.

Similar examples of user-specific naming patterns abound.

As a result, while a user who knows his or her own preferences or habitsmay have no trouble retrieving his or her own documents, other usersmight not be able to locate those documents with traditional SQL queriesformulated based on those users' own understanding or interpretation ofkeywords and categories. This can become especially troublesome when oneemployee who has unique ways of naming documents leaves a company.Colleagues of that employee or successors to his position may have noclue where he has effectively “hidden” his documents.

Currently, there are no known adequate solutions for document retrievalproblems caused by user-specific naming patterns. One natural approachis to simply broaden a document query to make it over-inclusive.However, without any knowledge of a prior user's unconventional ways ofnaming documents, it is difficult, if not impossible, to know howbroadly to expand a search to ensure coverage of that prior user'sdocuments. If the search is overbroad, it may return a list of hundredsof documents. Similarly, it is inefficient to attempt to browse throughall documents created by a prior user. Besides, if the prior user nameda relevant document in a cryptic way (e.g., using acronyms and shorthandspellings), a subsequent searcher probably will not recognize it as ahit simply by glancing at the document title.

Another approach is to always conduct a full-text content search incombination with or in addition to the usual metadata search. However,full-text searches are slow, wasteful of system resources, andunfeasible for image files or other non-text formats.

Yet another approach is to further break down each metadata field andsupply as many standardized menu items as possible for users to choosefrom. This approach also suffers from several drawbacks. First, it isoften difficult to anticipate all possible kinds of documents andprovide standardized menu items in advance and down to the most granularlevel. Second, increased selection of menu items can slow down bothdocument creation and query formulation. Third, there is a limit as tohow many menu items an ordinary user is willing to browse through.Over-granulated menus can be confusing for ordinary users who may bereluctant to spend the time to pick the most appropriate menu item.

In view of the foregoing, it may be understood that there aresignificant problems and shortcomings associated with current documentmanagement technologies.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Document management techniques to account for user-specific patterns indocument metadata are disclosed. In one particular exemplary embodiment,the techniques may be realized as a method for facilitating documentretrieval in an electronic document management system. The method maycomprise the steps of: assigning a first entitlement to a first user foraccessing a first plurality of documents; identifying one or morepatterns in the first user's creation or modification of metadatarelated to the first plurality of documents; recording the one or moreidentified patterns associated with the first user; receiving a documentquery from a second user who has been assigned a second entitlement toaccess a second plurality of documents; determining, based on the secondentitlement, an access right of the second user with respect to thefirst plurality of documents; and modifying the document query based onthe access right of the second user and the one or more identifiedpatterns, such that the document query returns one or more relevantdocuments from the first plurality of documents despite the seconduser's ignorance of the one or more identified patterns.

In another particular exemplary embodiment, the techniques may berealized as a system for facilitating document retrieval in anelectronic document management system. The system may comprise at leastone processor unit and at least one storage unit, both coupled to anelectronic document management system. The at least one processor unitmay be configured to: assign a first entitlement to a first user foraccessing a first plurality of documents in the electronic documentmanagement system, identify one or more patterns in the first user'screation or modification of metadata related to the first plurality ofdocuments, record the one or more identified patterns associated withthe first user in the at least one storage unit, receive a documentquery from a second user who has been assigned a second entitlement toaccess a second plurality of documents, determine, based on the secondentitlement, an access right of the second user with respect to thefirst plurality of documents, and modify the document query based on theaccess right of the second user and the one or more identified patterns,such that the document query returns one or more relevant documents fromthe first plurality of documents despite the second user's ignorance ofthe one or more identified patterns.

In yet another particular exemplary embodiment, the techniques may berealized as a method for facilitating document retrieval in anelectronic document management system. The method may comprise the stepsof: identifying one or more first patterns in a first user's creation ormodification of metadata related to a first plurality of documents thatthe first user has a first entitlement to access; identifying one ormore second patterns in a second user's creation or modification ofmetadata related to a second plurality of documents that the second userhas a second entitlement to access, the second entitlement beingcommensurate with the first entitlement; and modifying the metadatarelated to the first plurality of documents, based on the one or morefirst patterns, to conform to the one or more second patterns, such thata document query from the second user encompasses a relevant portion ofthe first plurality of documents despite the second user's ignorance ofthe one or more first patterns.

In a further particular exemplary embodiment, the techniques may berealized as a method for facilitating document retrieval in anelectronic document management system. The method may comprise the stepsof: identifying one or more patterns in a first user's creation ormodification of metadata related to a plurality of documents that thefirst user has a first entitlement to access; and normalizing at least aportion of the metadata to mitigate a skewing effect from the one ormore patterns on a document query from a second user, the second userhaving a second entitlement that is commensurate with the firstentitlement.

In a still further particular exemplary embodiment, the techniques maybe realized as a method for facilitating document retrieval in anelectronic document management system. The method may comprise the stepsof: assigning a first entitlement to a first user for accessing a firstplurality of documents; identifying one or more patterns in the firstuser's creation or modification of metadata related to the firstplurality of documents; recording the one or more identified patternsassociated with the first user; receiving a document query from a seconduser who has been assigned a second entitlement to access to a secondplurality of documents; determining whether the second entitlementpermits the second user to access at least one portion of the firstplurality of documents; and modifying the document query based on theone or more identified patterns, if the second entitlement permits thesecond user to access at least one portion of the first plurality ofdocuments, such that the modified document query returns relevantdocuments from said at least one portion of the first plurality ofdocuments despite the second user's ignorance of the one or moreidentified patterns.

The present invention will now be described in more detail withreference to exemplary embodiments thereof as shown in the accompanyingdrawings. While the present invention is described below with referenceto exemplary embodiments, it should be understood that the presentinvention is not limited thereto. Those of ordinary skill in the arthaving access to the teachings herein will recognize additionalimplementations, modifications, and embodiments, as well as other fieldsof use, which are within the scope of the present invention as describedherein, and with respect to which the present invention may be ofsignificant utility.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

In order to facilitate a fuller understanding of the present invention,reference is now made to the accompanying drawings, in which likeelements are referenced with like numerals. These drawings should not beconstrued as limiting the present invention, but are intended to beexemplary only.

FIG. 1 shows a typical “New Document Profile” form that a DMS user maybe required to fill in when creating a new document.

FIG. 2 shows a document management system (DMS) in which techniques toaccount for user-specific patterns in document metadata may beimplemented in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 shows a flow chart illustrating an exemplary method for capturinguser-specific naming patterns in accordance with an embodiment of thepresent invention.

FIG. 4 shows a flow chart illustrating an exemplary method forfacilitating document retrieval based on user-specific naming patternsin accordance with an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 shows a flow chart illustrating another exemplary method forfacilitating document retrieval based on user-specific naming patternsin accordance with an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 shows a block diagram illustrating an exemplary system forfacilitating document retrieval based on user-specific naming patternsin accordance with an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 7 shows exemplary document metadata fields and shadow fields inaccordance with an embodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

Embodiments of the present invention provide document managementtechniques to account for user-specific naming patterns. Documentmetadata created and/or modified by individual users may be monitored,analyzed or otherwise processed to capture user-specific naming patternsin describing documents. Such user-specific naming patterns may bestored in association with individual users. Metadata of one user'sdocuments may be modified or enhanced based on the naming patterns ofthat user. The user-specific naming patterns may be employed in a numberof ways to facilitate more effective and more efficient documentretrieval. For example, a subsequent document query submitted by oneuser may be modified or enhanced based on the naming patterns of otherusers who have commensurate entitlements as the user submitting thequery. Alternatively, metadata of one user's documents may be converted,based on that user's naming patterns, either to conform to anotheruser's naming patterns or to comply with a standard naming convention.

As used herein, a “document” refers to a computer file or electronicfile that can be in any format, of any size, and have any content. In afinancial institution such as a consumer bank, a payment card issuer, ora investment bank, documents managed with a DMS may include but are notlimited to account balance sheets, transaction history files, customerprofiles, credit applications, credit history files, risk analysispapers, banking or credit card statements, promotional offeringmaterials, merger and acquisition (M&A) deal proposals, M&A term sheetsand agreements, initial public offering (IPO) disclosures, investmentfunds prospectuses, Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filings.

Documents to which the present invention is applicable may also includeany type of visual assets, such as images, video clips, audio files, andcombinations thereof. For example, a typical MPEG-1 Audio Layer 3 (orMP3) file may include metadata fields known as ID3 tags, which containeditable and/or searchable information of a song or a piece of music,such as title, artist, album, composer, genre, copyright, rating, anddescription. Such MP3 files may be stored in a music library which isalso one type of document management system. User-specific namingpatterns may be accounted for in queries of MP3 music files, and theentitlement-based search techniques may be implemented in a musiclibrary.

A “creator” of a document refers to any user who has either created orchanged the metadata of that document. So, a document creator may be anauthor, typist, or any initial maker of the document, or any subsequentuser whose access to the document changes its metadata. When one or moredocuments are referred to as a particular user's document(s), it meansthat said user is a creator of the document(s) in the sense as describedabove.

The term “naming patterns” may include any identifiable style or methodof describing documents with metadata. A naming pattern is not limitedto the way a DMS user creates or modifies a document title, but may bereflected in any metadata field or any combination of metadata fields.In addition, although a naming pattern typically reflects a consistentor habitual way of describing documents, it does not always require theexamination of multiple documents. For example, the way a documentcreator uses aliases or acronyms in a single document may be recorded as“a naming pattern.”

Conceptually, user-specific naming patterns as captured and recorded inaccordance with embodiments of the present invention is also a type ofmetadata. In contrast to document metadata in the conventional sense,user-specific naming patterns are more appropriately considered “usermetadata” since they are informational data about DMS users.Alternatively, user-specific naming patterns may be considered metadataabout document metadata since the naming patterns are typicallyextracted from the document metadata and reflect some characteristics ofthe document metadata.

Referring to FIG. 2, there is shown a document management system (DMS)200 in which techniques to account for user-specific patterns indocument metadata may be implemented in accordance with an embodiment ofthe present invention. The DMS 200 may comprise a DMS server 202, adocument storage unit 204, and a metadata storage unit 206. Thoughdepicted here as separate components for illustration purposes, anycombination of these components may be implemented in or with a singlecomputing component. The DMS server 202 may be responsible for all theinput/output (I/O) functions and data processing needs related todocument management. The DMS server 202 may comprise various softwareand/or hardware modules such as a user interface, a web interface, astorage or database interface, a query engine, document managementapplications, and an event log. The document management applicationsmodule may include a suite of software programs to handle documentmanagement tasks, such as document creation, metadata generation, accesscontrol, and storage management. The DMS server 202 may be coupled to orin control of the document storage unit 204 and the metadata storageunit 206 which are repositories for documents and metadata respectively.In some embodiment, the documents and corresponding metadata mayalternatively be stored in a same storage device.

The DMS server 202 may be situated within an enterprise network 20.Internal clients 10 of the enterprise network 20, such as employees andnetwork administrators, may access the DMS server 202 based on theiraccess rights or entitlements. In addition, external clients 12 of theenterprise network 20, such as customers and traveling or telecommutingemployees, may remotely access the DMS server 202. The remote access maybe through web servers 210 and a firewall 208. Each of the clientdevices (e.g., 10 and 12) may implement one or more client softwareprograms, such as web browser add-ons or standalone applications, tointeroperate with the DMS server 202. Alternatively, the client devicesmay communicate with the DMS server 202 via standard web browserswithout any special client-side software.

It should be noted that FIG. 2 shows only one exemplary DMS (200) andits typical environment. The document management techniques inaccordance with embodiments of the present invention may be implementedin or for other types of DMS, such as a simple DMS that resides in asingle computer or an expansive one that sprawl multiple networks acrossdifferent geographical locations.

FIG. 3 shows a flow chart illustrating an exemplary method for capturinguser-specific naming patterns in accordance with an embodiment of thepresent invention.

In a pre-existing DMS, i.e., one that has already accumulated a numberof documents, the existing documents may be batch processed to captureuser-specific naming patterns. So, with respect to each user of the DMS,that user's documents may be identified in step 302. That is, alldocuments whose metadata were created or changed by that user may beselected.

Then, in step 304, the metadata of those identified documents may beanalyzed to detect naming patterns as exhibited by that user. Theanalysis of the metadata may involve one or more tasks such as locatingconsistent choices of text strings or menu items in any metadata field,identifying repetitive combinations of entries in two or more metadatafields, and recognizing aliases, acronyms, shorthand spelling, or otheruncommon use of words or symbols in text entries. The analysis of themetadata may be further supplemented with information from othersources. For example, in some instances, the DMS may examine the contentof underlying documents to extract information that may be helpful inidentifying and categorizing the documents and for detection orconfirmation of user-specific naming patterns. In other instances, theDMS may solicit or request input from a document creator to shed lighton his or her own naming habits. According to one embodiment of thepresent invention, the detection of user-specific naming patterns mayemploy fuzzy logic algorithms and/or scoring methods to reflectconfidence levels of the naming patterns detected.

In step 306, the user-specific naming patterns detected in step 304 maybe recorded in a user-specific file or a database entry created for thecorresponding user. That is, the DMS users' naming patterns may bestored either in individual files (referred to as “naming patternsfiles” or NPFs) or in a database (or lookup table) with entriescorresponding to individual users.

The steps 302, 304, and 306 may be repeated until existing documents ofall users of the DMS have been processed. If a user does not have asufficient number of existing documents to allow detection of namingpatterns or otherwise does not have any identifiable naming pattern, anNPF or database entry may still be created for that user, which may beflagged for future updates. Alternatively or in addition, a confidencelevel may be calculated for each user-specific naming pattern that hasbeen recorded in the NPF or database. The confidence level may be basedon a sample size from which a naming pattern has been identified.Typically, the larger the sample size (i.e., the more frequently thesame or similar naming behavior repeats), the more confident the DMS canbe with respect to the naming behavior. With the confidence levels, aprocess of self-correction and/or self-improvement may be implementedfor the NPF or database, such that previously recorded naming patternsmay be confirmed or corrected based on additional data samples.

On an ongoing basis, the creation and modification of metadata may bemonitored, in step 308, for new or updated documents in the DMS. Forexample, every time a new document is created in the DMS, thecorresponding set of metadata may be processed immediately or soon afterdocument creation. The realtime or near-realtime processing of newmetadata may facilitate retrieval of the corresponding new documents bymaking them more searchable sooner. Alternatively, the DMS may processnew metadata at pre-scheduled times or may wait until the number of newdocuments reaches a predetermined threshold before batch processing newmetadata. The batch processing option may be more efficient than therealtime or near-realtime option, though the documents may remain lesssearchable until the new metadata are fully processed. Similarly, theDMS may also keep track of changes in the metadata of existing documentsand process the changed metadata on an ongoing basis.

With respect to each document whose metadata have recently been createdor changed, a user creating or changing the metadata may be identifiedin step 310. Then, in step 312, that user's NPF may be updated based onnewly detected or confirmed naming pattern(s), if any. Based on theuser's recently created or modified documents and/or the user's existingNPF, a new naming pattern specific to that user may be detected or anexisting naming pattern of that user may be confirmed. For example, ifthe new metadata, alone or in combination with prior metadata, show anew naming pattern, that new naming pattern may be recorded in the NPF.If a recently created or changed set of metadata reflects a previouslyrecorded naming pattern, that naming pattern may be confirmed in theNPF, for example, with an increased confidence level.

According to some embodiments of the present invention, theuser-specific naming patterns may be recorded in the form of NPF filesor database entries and stored independent of document metadata.Alternatively or additionally, the document metadata may be modified orenhanced in step 312, based on the user-specific naming patterns, inorder to make the documents more searchable by other users.

A number of methods may be employed to “translate” or “normalize”metadata of one user's documents for improved searchability by otherusers. For example, aliases, acronyms and shorthand spellings can bereplaced or at least annotated with appropriate words and phrases thatother users are likely to understand. Poorly categorized documents maybe re-categorized or cross-categorized with more descriptive menu items.

While the document creator's choice of metadata may be modified orreplaced, it might be beneficial to keep the original metadata intactand enhance the metadata fields with additional information based on theuser-specific naming patterns. According to one embodiment of thepresent invention, “shadow fields” may be provided to enhance or augmentan original set of metadata fields, one example of which is illustratedin FIG. 7. FIG. 7 shows a “New Document Profile” window 702 similar tothe one shown in FIG. 1. In addition to what a document creator providesin the various metadata fields, the DMS may generate one or more shadowfields 704 based on naming patterns that are specific to the documentcreator. For example, one shadow field may include keywords that aremore appropriate or more descriptive than those provided by the documentcreator in the title and notes/comments fields. Variations and synonymsof the keywords may also be included. Aliases or acronyms in textentries of the document creator may be translated. Another shadow fieldmay include one or more client-matter combinations that are moreappropriate or more specific than what is provided by the documentcreator. Yet another shadow field may include an interpretation of thedocument creator's unique combination of title, document type anddocument category, thereby providing a more commonly recognizablecombination. The shadow fields 704 are also metadata but are notdirectly input by the document creator and typically may not bedisplayed to the document creator. Instead, the shadow fields mayco-exist with the conventional metadata in the background (hence theterm “shadow” fields) and may be searched just like conventionalmetadata. With the shadow fields and/or other metadata enhancement,documents may be virtually re-described, re-categorized, and/orre-organized to facilitate document retrieval that is less affected byuser-specific naming patterns.

FIG. 4 shows a flow chart illustrating an exemplary method forfacilitating document retrieval based on user-specific naming patternsin accordance with an embodiment of the present invention.

In step 402, a document query may be received from User X. User X may bean employee of a company and also a user of the company's DMS. User Xmay have a particular entitlement to access documents stored in the DMS.The entitlement (or access rights) may be assigned and enforced on oneor more granular levels. For example, User X may be entitled to accesscertain individual documents in the DMS but not any other documents. Or,User X may be allowed to access one type or category of documents butnot any other type or category. Or, User X may have access rights forone or more libraries of documents within the DMS. User X's entitlementwith respect to each document is an all-or-nothing arrangement, whereinUser X's right to access a document applies to the entire document.Alternatively, User X's entitlement may be further designated on asub-document level, wherein User X might access some sections or pagesof a document but not other sections or pages.

The document query may be formulated in the form of one or more termsrelated to metadata fields. The document query is typically entered viaa graphical user interface (GUI) but may also be input as a commandline. The document query may be directed to documents created by currentor previous colleagues of User X.

In step 404, the DMS may identify other users who have entitlements thatare commensurate with User X's entitlement. A user's entitlement may beconsidered commensurate with User X's if User X is authorized to accessat least a portion of that user's documents or if there is likelihoodthat User X may acquire authority to access that user's documents (e.g.,User X having only a slightly narrower scope of entitlement). In thisexample, Users A, B, C and D may be identified as such users. They maybe User X's colleagues or predecessors whose documents User X is allowedto access. According to one embodiment of the present invention, User Xmay be allowed to search for documents beyond User X's entitlement attime of the search. Or, the DMS may automatically expand the scope ofthe search to include relevant documents that User X does not yet haveauthority to access. In either case, User X may be presented with a listof hits including “locked” (or “grayed-out”) documents and be promptedto seek permission (temporary or permanent) in order to “unlock” thosedocuments. User X may cause the system to temporarily store the list ofhits until the permission is granted.

In step 406, records of user-specific naming patterns associated withUsers A-D may be retrieved. As described above, the records may be NPFsor database entries.

In step 408, the document query submitted by User X may be enhancedbased on User A-D's naming patterns. For example, the original documentquery from User X may be parsed, and additional keywords or menu itemsin User A-D's metadata that might match User X's search terms may beincluded in the query. Optionally, the document query may be enhancedwith User X's own naming patterns, if any. For example, if User X hassome known habits of using certain terms in document metadata, themeanings of those terms may be translated and included in the enhanceddocument query.

According to some embodiments of the present invention, User A-D'sdocuments (i.e., those to which User X has entitlement) may already havehad their metadata modified or enhanced based on User A-D's namingpatterns, as described above. In that case, as an alternative to steps406 and 408, such modified or enhanced metadata may be directly searchedwith the original document query submitted by User X.

Finally, in step 412, a list of relevant documents may be returned toUser X. The list of “hits” may be a result of the enhanced documentquery (step 408), the search of enhanced metadata (step 410), or both.

FIG. 5 shows a flow chart illustrating another exemplary method forfacilitating document retrieval based on user-specific naming patternsin accordance with an embodiment of the present invention.

In step 502, a DMS User P (P for predecessor) leaves a company and UserS (S for successor) succeeds to User P's position in the company. AsUser P's successor, User S may need to retrieve some of User P'sdocuments that are stored in the company's DMS. To facilitate retrievalof User P's documents, User S's document queries may be enhanced basedon P's naming patterns. Alternatively, as described in connection withthe following method steps, metadata of all of User P's documents may beconverted based on P's naming patterns. The conversion may be desirablebecause there is no longer a need to maintain the original metadata forUser P's convenience. The main concern now is whether User S and/orother similarly-situated users can easily locate and retrieve P'sdocuments.

In step 504, records of User P's naming patterns, such as an NPF and/ordatabase entries, may be retrieved. Similarly, in step 506, records ofUser S's naming patterns, if available, may also be retrieved.

In step 508, all of User P's documents to which User S has entitlementmay be identified. User S, as P's successor, may have identicalentitlement as User P. However, it is also possible that User S has abroader or narrower scope of entitlement than User P.

Then, in step 510, metadata of those documents identified in step 508may be converted, based on User P's naming patterns, either to conformto User S's naming patterns or to comply with some standardized namingconventions. That is, User P's metadata may be “translated” for User S,such that what makes sense to User P will be understood and searchableby User S in P's absence. Alternatively, User P's metadata may be“normalized” so that P's unique way of naming or describing documents isgenerally understood and searchable by other users of the DMS.

Of course, FIG. 5 only shows the simplest example where User P has asingle successor, User S. In more general cases, User S is just one of anumber of DMS users who can access User P's documents. In that case, theconversion of metadata of User P's documents may be still be performed,either individually or collectively for DMS users whose entitlements arecommensurate with User P's.

In some cases, after User P leaves the company, no other user of thecompany's DMS may have entitlement to access User P's documents. As aresult, User P's documents may become “orphans.” According to someembodiments of the present invention, this situation may be detected bythe DMS as soon as User P is removed from the user list. For example,upon removal of User P, the DMS may be configured to automatically combthrough User P's documents to identify those which User P has exclusiveaccess. The newly identified orphan documents may be flagged and theirmetadata may be translated for review by authorized administrativepersonnel. For example, a descriptive summary of the orphan documentsmay be generated based on their metadata as well as User P's namingpatterns, such that a reviewer may understand a general relevance ofthose documents without reading their content. It may then be determinedwhich employee(s) of the company will inherit the orphan documents.Accordingly, the metadata of those documents may be translated ornormalized, based on User P's naming patterns, for the convenience ofthe new owner(s).

According to other embodiments of the present invention, a mechanism maybe implemented to proactively prevent a document from becoming anorphan. For example, it may be indicated, in the metadata of eachdocument, as to a total number of DMS users who have entitlement to thatdocument. With the exception of private, personal documents, a rule maybe enforced to ensure each document is accessible by two or more users.As soon as the number of authorized users of a document drops to one,the DMS may alert a super-user or administrator to review the metadataof that document and to identify other DMS users who might be authorizedto access that document.

FIG. 6 shows a block diagram illustrating an exemplary system 600 forfacilitating document retrieval based on user-specific naming patternsin accordance with an embodiment of the present invention.

The system 600 may be or include a computer system. This embodiment ofthe present invention may be described in the general context ofcomputer-executable instructions, such as program modules, beingexecuted by a computer. Generally, program modules include routines,programs, objects, components, data structures, etc. that performparticular tasks or implement particular abstract data types.

Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the invention may bepracticed with various computer system configurations, includinghand-held wireless devices such as mobile phones or PDAs, multiprocessorsystems, microprocessor-based or programmable consumer electronics,minicomputers, mainframe computers, and the like. The invention may alsobe practiced in distributed computing environments where tasks areperformed by remote processing devices that are linked through acommunications network. In a distributed computing environment, programmodules may be located in both local and remote computer storage mediaincluding memory storage devices.

The computer system may include a general purpose computing device inthe form of a computer including a processing unit, a system memory, anda system bus that couples various system components including the systemmemory to the processing unit.

Computers typically include a variety of computer readable media thatcan form part of the system memory and be read by the processing unit.By way of example, and not limitation, computer readable media maycomprise computer storage media and communication media. The systemmemory may include computer storage media in the form of volatile and/ornonvolatile memory such as read only memory (ROM) and random accessmemory (RAM). A basic input/output system (BIOS), containing the basicroutines that help to transfer information between elements, such asduring start-up, is typically stored in ROM. RAM typically contains dataand/or program modules that are immediately accessible to and/orpresently being operated on by processing unit. The data or programmodules may include an operating system, application programs, otherprogram modules, and program data. The operating system may be orinclude a variety of operating systems such as Microsoft Windows®operating system, the Unix operating system, the Linux operating system,the Xenix operating system, the IBM AIX™ operating system, the HewlettPackard UX™ operating system, the Novell Netware™ operating system, theSun Microsystems Solaris™ operating system, the OS/2™ operating system,the BeOS™ operating system, the Macintosh™® operating system, theApache™ operating system, an OpenStep™ operating system or anotheroperating system of platform.

At a minimum, the memory includes at least one set of instructions thatis either permanently or temporarily stored. The processor executes theinstructions that are stored in order to process data. The set ofinstructions may include various instructions that perform a particulartask or tasks, such as those shown in the appended flowcharts. Such aset of instructions for performing a particular task may becharacterized as a program, software program, software, engine, module,component, mechanism, or tool. The system 600 may include a plurality ofsoftware processing modules stored in a memory as described above andexecuted on a processor in the manner described herein. The programmodules may be in the form of any suitable programming language, whichis converted to machine language or object code to allow the processoror processors to read the instructions. That is, written lines ofprogramming code or source code, in a particular programming language,may be converted to machine language using a compiler, assembler, orinterpreter. The machine language may be binary coded machineinstructions specific to a particular computer.

Any suitable programming language may be used in accordance with thevarious embodiments of the invention. Illustratively, the programminglanguage used may include assembly language, Ada, APL, Basic, C, C++,COBOL, dBase, Forth, FORTRAN, Java, Modula-2, Pascal, Prolog, RUM and/orJavaScript for example. Further, it is not necessary that a single typeof instruction or programming language be utilized in conjunction withthe operation of the system and method of the invention. Rather, anynumber of different programming languages may be utilized as isnecessary or desirable.

Also, the instructions and/or data used in the practice of the inventionmay utilize any compression or encryption technique or algorithm, as maybe desired. An encryption module might be used to encrypt data. Further,files or other data may be decrypted using a suitable decryption module.

The computing environment may also include other removable/nonremovable,volatile/nonvolatile computer storage media. For example, a hard diskdrive may read or write to nonremovable, nonvolatile magnetic media. Amagnetic disk drive may read from or writes to a removable, nonvolatilemagnetic disk, and an optical disk drive may read from or write to aremovable, nonvolatile optical disk such as a CD ROM or other opticalmedia. Other removable/nonremovable, volatile/nonvolatile computerstorage media that can be used in the exemplary operating environmentinclude, but are not limited to, magnetic tape cassettes, flash memorycards, digital versatile disks, digital video tape, solid state RAM,solid state ROM, and the like. The storage media are typically connectedto the system bus through a removable or non-removable memory interface.

The processing unit that executes commands and instructions may be ageneral purpose computer, but may utilize any of a wide variety of othertechnologies including a special purpose computer, a microcomputer,mini-computer, mainframe computer, programmed micro-processor,micro-controller, peripheral integrated circuit element, a CSIC(Customer Specific Integrated Circuit), ASIC (Application SpecificIntegrated Circuit), a logic circuit, a digital signal processor, aprogrammable logic device such as an FPGA (Field Programmable GateArray), PLD (Programmable Logic Device), PLA (Programmable Logic Array),RFID integrated circuits, smart chip, or any other device or arrangementof devices that is capable of implementing the steps of the processes ofthe invention.

It should be appreciated that the processors and/or memories of thecomputer system need not be physically in the same location. Each of theprocessors and each of the memories used by the computer system may bein geographically distinct locations and be connected so as tocommunicate with each other in any suitable manner. Additionally, it isappreciated that each of the processor and/or memory may be composed ofdifferent physical pieces of equipment.

A user may enter commands and information into the computer through auser interface that includes input devices such as a keyboard andpointing device, commonly referred to as a mouse, trackball or touchpad. Other input devices may include a microphone, joystick, game pad,satellite dish, scanner, voice recognition device, keyboard, touchscreen, toggle switch, pushbutton, or the like. These and other inputdevices are often connected to the processing unit through a user inputinterface that is coupled to the system bus, but may be connected byother interface and bus structures, such as a parallel port, game portor a universal serial bus (USB).

One or more monitors or display devices may also be connected to thesystem bus via an interface. In addition to display devices, computersmay also include other peripheral output devices, which may be connectedthrough an output peripheral interface. The computers implementing theinvention may operate in a networked environment using logicalconnections to one or more remote computers, the remote computerstypically including many or all of the elements described above.

Various networks may be implemented in accordance with embodiments ofthe invention, including a wired or wireless local area network (LAN)and a wide area network (WAN), wireless personal area network (PAN) andother types of networks. When used in a LAN networking environment,computers may be connected to the LAN through a network interface oradapter. When used in a WAN networking environment, computers typicallyinclude a modem or other communication mechanism. Modems may be internalor external, and may be connected to the system bus via the user-inputinterface, or other appropriate mechanism. Computers may be connectedover the Internet, an Intranet, Extranet, Ethernet, or any other systemthat provides communications. Some suitable communications protocols mayinclude TCP/IP, UDP, or OSI for example. For wireless communications,communications protocols may include Bluetooth, Zigbee, IrDa or othersuitable protocol. Furthermore, components of the system may communicatethrough a combination of wired or wireless paths.

Although many other internal components of the computer are not shown,those of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that such componentsand the interconnections are well known. Accordingly, additional detailsconcerning the internal construction of the computer need not bedisclosed in connection with the present invention.

More specifically, the system 600 may comprise a DMS server 602 which iscoupled to a document storage unit 604, a metadata storage unit 606, anda naming patterns storage unit 608. Though they are shown as separatecomponents, these storage units (604, 606 and 608) may be combined withone another or with the DMS server 602. The DMS server 602 may comprisea document management application module 60, a query engine 62, a userinterface 66, and a web interface 68.

In addition, the DMS server 602 may comprise or be coupled to a metadatatranslator 64 that is responsible for the capture, management, and useof user-specific naming patterns in accordance with embodiments of thepresent invention. Although depicted in FIG. 6 as an internal,integrated module that is separate from the document managementapplication module 60 and the query engine 62, the metadata translator64 may be implemented in a number of different ways. For example, themetadata translator 64 may be an add-on module that is external to theDMS server 602. Alternatively, some or all of the functions of metadatatranslator 64 may be included in the document management applicationmodule 60 or the query engine 62. According to yet another embodiment ofthe present invention, some functions for capturing naming patternsand/or enhancing document queries may be implemented in or supplementedby one or more client-side software agents residing in individual users'computers and/or terminals. That is, not all the functions related touse-specific naming patterns have to be implemented or performedcentrally by the DMS server 602.

While the foregoing description includes many details and specificities,it is to be understood that these have been included for purposes ofexplanation only, and are not to be interpreted as limitations of thepresent invention. It will be apparent to those skilled in the art thatother modifications to the embodiments described above can be madewithout departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.Accordingly, such modifications are considered within the scope of theinvention as intended to be encompassed by the following claims andtheir legal equivalents.

The invention claimed is:
 1. An electronic document management system,the system comprising: a DMS server having at least one computerprocessor; at least one storage medium storing electronic documents andmetadata associated therewith; and at least one of a user interface anda network interface; said DMS server being configured to: identify oneor more user-specific naming patterns in metadata created by a firstuser in connection with a plurality of electronic documents; record, insaid at least one storage medium, said identified one or moreuser-specific naming patterns in at least one of a naming patterns file(NPF), database, and lookup table; create a modified copy of themetadata wherein at least a portion of the original metadata created bythe first user are modified, based on the recorded user-specific namingpatterns, to improve searchability of the plurality of electronicdocuments by other users; store the modified copy of the metadata inassociation with the plurality of electronic documents; and make themodified copy of the metadata available in a document query for one ormore of the plurality of electronic documents by a second user.
 2. Theelectronic document management system according to claim 1, furtherconfigured to: replace at least one of aliases, acronyms and shorthandspellings in said at least a portion of the original metadata.
 3. Theelectronic document management system according to claim 1, furtherconfigured to: incorporate additional information in the modified copyof the metadata.
 4. The electronic document management system accordingto claim 1, further configured to: normalize the metadata based on therecorded one or more user-specific naming patterns.
 5. The electronicdocument management system according to claim 1, further configured to:identify one or more user-specific naming patterns each time the firstuser creates or modifies document metadata.
 6. The electronic documentmanagement system according to claim 1, wherein the one or moreuser-specific naming patterns are identified by processing two or moreof the plurality of electronic documents in a batch.
 7. The electronicdocument management system according to claim 1, wherein the one or moreuser-specific naming patterns are selected from a group consisting of:one or more consistent choices of text strings or menu items in a singlemetadata field; one or more combinations of entries in two or moremetadata fields; and one or more aliases or acronyms in text entry ofany metadata field.
 8. The electronic document management systemaccording to claim 1, wherein the one or more identified user-specificnaming patterns are recorded in association with the metadata related toeach of the plurality of electronic documents.
 9. The electronicdocument management system according to claim 1, wherein the one or moreidentified user-specific naming patterns are recorded in associationwith the first user.
 10. The electronic document management systemaccording to claim 1, further configured to: receive the document queryfrom a mobile phone or PDA of the second user.